Deck 1: The Anthropological Study of Religion

Question 1

Which of the following might also be referred to as an ethnographer?

A)a physical anthropologist
B)an archaeologist
C)a cultural anthropologist
D)a linguistic anthropologist

Answer 1

a cultural anthropologist

Question 2

Societies characterized by low population density,no full-time specialists or social stratification,whose food is obtained primarily from gathering,hunting,and fishing are:

A)foragers
B)pastoralists
C)horticulturalists
D)intensive agriculturalists

Answer 2

foragers

Question 3

A study of a people's religious beliefs and rituals would be a part of the study of:

A)cultural anthropology
B)linguistics
C)archaeology
D)physical anthropology

Answer 3

cultural anthropology

Question 4

Which of the following would not be an appropriate task for an anthropologist?

A)translating a religious text in the Navaho language
B)excavating the ruins of a Mayan temple
C)filming an American religious ceremony
D)studying the chimpanzees of the Gombe National Park
E)all of the above would be appropriate tasks

Question 5

Geographical areas wherein are found societies that share a great many characteristics are known as:

A)culture areas
B)ethnographic zones
C)ecological regions
D)societal areas

Question 6

From the etic perspective,Western medicine sees kuru as an infectious disease.From the emic perspective,the Fore believe that kuru is caused by the:

A)breaking of a tabu
B)displeasure of an ancestral spirit
C)transmission of a microorganism
D)activities of a sorcerer doing evil magic

Question 7

After cremating their dead,the Yanomamö grind the ashes and later add the ashes to a banana stew to be consumed.Most Americans might feel that drinking the ashes of the dead to be disgusting.On the other hand,anthropology tells us that we should not judge the customs of others by our own standards.This latter attitude towards other cultures is called:

A)holism
B)ethnocentrism
C)cultural relativism
D)participant observation

Question 8

An example of an ethnography is:

A)Goodall's study of chimpanzee behavior
B)Herskovits's study of economic anthropology
C)Johanson's study of the fossil hominids from Hadar
D)Malinowski's study of the Trobriand Islanders

Question 9

A method of studying communities that is unique to anthropology is:

A)questionnaires
B)participant observation
C)psychological tests
D)recording of oral literature and songs

Question 10

The Wogeo of New Guinea believe that Wogeo traditions are the only valid traditions in the world and that Wogeo speech is uniquely pure.They refuse to speak the languages of the communities with which they trade because their neighbors make the sounds of dogs.This attitude is an example of:

A)cultural relativism
B)ethnocentrism
C)morality
D)righteousness

Question 11

The first use of the term culture in anthropology appeared in 1871 in a book written by:

A)James Frazer
B)Robert Edgerton
C)Edward Tylor
D)Melford Spiro

Question 12

Kuru,a disease found among the Fore,is caused by:

A)microscopic particles transmitted through cannibalism
B)a parasite transmitted through poorly-cooked pork
C)a hereditary factor passed on through the mother to her children
D)toxins introduced by Indonesian mining operations

Question 13

Two main ways that anthropologists organize societies are by:

A)culture area and food getting strategies
B)level of religious complexity and gender stratification
C)gender ratio and child rearing strategies
D)kinship system and language spoken

Question 14

An ethnography is a:

A)comparative study of the social systems of many societies
B)study of the physical characteristics of a human population
C)analysis of a nonhuman primate species
D)descriptive study of a society or culture

Question 15

Anthropologists attempt to see the world through the eyes of the people in the community they are studying.This is:

A)emic analysis
B)functional analysis
C)etic analysis
D)psychosocial analysis

Question 16

An anthropologist travels to the Fore of New Guinea and produces an ethnography.This ethnography is a(n):

A)comparison of Fore society with other New Guinea societies
B)a description of Fore society and culture
C)analysis of the Fore language
D)analysis of the biological and genetic characteristics of the Fore people

Question 17

Anthropologists study societies as systematic sums of their parts,a concept known as:

A)relativism
B)ethnology
C)holism
D)postmodernism

Question 18

Culture consists of:

A)innate behavioral patterns that humans share with the apes
B)an appreciation of the fine arts and literature
C)nutrients upon which bacteria can grow
D)learned and traditional patterns of behavior

Question 19

The Fore believe that kuru is caused by the:

A)breaking of a taboo
B)displeasure of an ancestral spirit
C)transmission of a microorganism
D)activities of a sorcerer doing evil magic

Question 20

The point of view that all knowledge is a human "construction," that there are multiple viewpoints and truths,and that we must be aware of our own viewpoints and biases,is referred to as:

A)modernity
B)essentialism
C)postmodernism
D)Marxism

Question 21

In an analytic definition of religion,the study of the organization and leadership of a religious system represents the:

A)social dimension
B)ritual dimension
C)institutional dimension
D)narrative dimension

Question 22

The term supernatural refers to:

A)an attitude of reverence and respect
B)a belief in spirit beings such as spirits and gods
C)belief in a general supernatural force
D)things that are above the natural and not subject to the laws of nature

Question 23

The concept of animatism refers to a belief:

A)in spirit beings
B)that it is impossible to prove the existence of a supernatural power
C)that humans are set off from the animal world
D)in an impersonal supernatural power

Question 24

An important method of field study in anthropology is participant observation.

Question 25

The operant definition of religion proposed in this textbook includes the following characteristics:

A)a belief in anthropomorphic supernatural beings
B)a focus on the sacred supernatural
C)an articulation of a worldview and moral code through narratives
D)all of the above

Question 26

Ethnographic fieldwork among the Trobriand Islanders was carried out by:

A)E.E.Evans-Pritchard
B)Bronislaw Malinowski
C)Karen McCarthy Brown
D)Alfred R.Radcliffe-Brown

Question 27

A definition of religion that is concerned with the role that religion plays in a society is a(n):

A)analytic definition
B)functional definition
C)essentialist definition
D)psychosocial definition

Question 28

A belief in spirit beings is termed:

A)animatism
B)animism
C)agnosticism
D)anthropocentrism

Question 29

The approach to the study of religion that is concerned with the relationship between culture and personality and the connection between society and the individual is the:

A)psychosocial approach
B)the functional approach
C)the analytic approach
D)the Marxist approach

Question 30

The interpretative approach,in which religion is described as a cluster of symbols that together make up a whole,was developed by:

A)Sigmund Freud
B)Melford Spiro
C)Clifford Geertz
D)James Frazer

Question 31

Who wrote,"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature"?

A)Edward Tylor
B)Bronislaw Malinowski
C)Karl Marx
D)Sigmund Freud

Question 32

Which of the following anthropologists is most closely associated with the functionalist approach?

A)Melford Spiro
B)Edward Tyler
C)Alfred Radcliff-Brown
D)Bronislaw Malinowski

Question 33

Some neuroscientists conclude that the brain is capable of creating religious experiences.Which of the following is evidence for this conclusion?

A)People suffering from temporal lobe epilepsy often report intense religious experiences as part of their attacks.
B)People who report having intense religious experiences often report having had brain trauma or brain injury in childhood.
C)Brain scans of people in deep meditation show a decreased activity in the parietal lobe of the brain,in an area responsible for giving us a sense of our orientation in space and time.
D)All of the above.

Question 34

Defining terms so they are observable and measurable is called a(n):

A)analytic definition
B)functional definition
C)anthropological definition
D)operant definition

Question 35

Theory of mind refers to the idea that:

A)children are born with "blank slates" and slowly develop a mind through observation and trial and error
B)people are not capable of seeing events as the result of randomness or coincidence
C)people know,or think they know,what is going on in another people's minds
D)the evolution of a large brain was largely responsible for the development of the human mind

Question 36

Late nineteenth century anthropologists who saw "primitive" societies as presenting an early stage in the development of religion were using the:

A)functional approach
B)essentialist approach
C)evolutionary approach
D)psychoanalytic approach

Question 37

The term cognition refers to:

A)unconsciousness
B)the totality of all perceptions
C)conscious intellectual activities including perception,reasoning,and feeling
D)a form of psychotherapy

Question 38

An agnostic:

A)has not made up his mind about the existence of the supernatural
B)believes that there is no supernatural
C)says that it is impossible to prove or disprove the existence of the supernatural
D)none of the above

Question 39

There are many approaches to the study of religion in anthropology.One approach is to ask the question: What does religion do? What roles does religion play in human societies? This approach is referred to as the:

A)functional approach
B)psychosocial approach
C)evolutionary approach
D)cognitive approach

Question 40

The study of religious art excavated from now extinct cultures is a part of the field of archaeology.

Question 41

An analytic definition focuses on the way that religion manifests itself or is expressed in a culture.

Question 42

The Fore of New Guinea practice mortuary cannibalism,that is,they eat the body of their deceased relatives.

Question 43

Gods and ghosts are examples of anthropomorphic supernatural beings.

Question 44

Anthropologists frequently apply the term primitive to small-scale societies.

Question 45

Animatism refers to the idea of an impersonal supernatural force.

Question 46

The essentialist definition of religion emphasizes that region is the domain of the extraordinary.

Question 47

Émile Durkheim and Alfred Radcliff-Brown are associated with the evolutionary approach to the study of religion.

Question 48

Culture is based upon the use of symbols or shared understanding about the meaning of things.

Question 49

An outsider who applies his or her own cultural orientation to the analysis of another culture is performing an emic analysis.

Question 50

Karen McCarthy Brown's study of vodou in New York City is an example of an ethnography.

Question 51

Robert Edgerton believes that all cultural practices are valid and must be accepted in the context of the society's culture.

Question 52

Postmodernism highlights the scientific method and rationality in the discovery of knowledge.

Question 53

Foragers practice simple farming with hand tools,are seminomadic,and lack full-time specialists.

Question 54

The idea that visions and other religious experiences are the product of brain function is what is meant by theory of mind.

Question 55

Human universals refer to biological characteristics of human beings that reflect a common biology.

Question 56

A person who judges another society in terms of his or her own culture is said to be ethnocentric.

Question 57

All societies have clearly understood terms to label the domain of culture we call religion.

Question 58

Sigmund Freud applied some of his concepts to the analysis of religious phenomena.

Question 59

Northwest Coast,East African Cattle,and Melanesia are names of culture areas.

Question 60

The Fore of New Guinea believe that the disease kuru is caused by evil forest spirits.

Question 61

When reading an ethnography about the Fore what is the difference between Fore society and Fore culture?

Question 62

Think of a political and economic issue that you have read about that has occurred in another part of the world.How would you describe and analyze this event from an ethnocentric viewpoint and from a cultural relativistic viewpoint?

Question 63

We can approach the study and understanding of other peoples through both etic and emic analysis.What is the essential difference between these two views? How does each contribute to our understanding of human societies?

Question 64

What is the nature of ethnographic research? How does it differ from research in other disciplines?

Question 65

Give some examples of how brain function can produce what are prescribed as religious experiences.

Question 66

"Culture gives meaning to reality." What does this mean? Give some examples.

Question 67

How does the study of kuru among the Fore of New Guinea illustrate the concept of holism?

Question 68

How does the theory of mind relate to the phenomenon of animism?

Question 69

What criteria would you use in deciding whether or not a particular cultural practice should be eliminated in apparent contradiction of cultural relativism?

Question 70

Define the four fields of anthropology.How does each relate to the study of religion?

Question 71

What is meant by the term "culture area"? What do societies in the same culture area tend to have in common? Why?

Question 72

Compare and contrast the essential concept of the evolutionary,Marxist,functional,interpretative,and psychosocial approaches to the study of religion.Which scholars are associated with each of these approaches?

Question 73

Within the analytic definition of religion,what is contained within the narrative,ritual,and ethnical dimensions?

Question 74

Two early approaches to the study of religion were the evolutionary approach of Tyler and Frazer and the psychosocial approach of Sigmund Freud.What are the essential features of these two approaches?

Question 75

What are some of the important differences in social structure among peoples practicing different food-getting strategies?

Question 76

Which of the definitions of religion discussed in the book do you like the best? Why? How would you personally define the term religion?

Question 77

What are the differences between modernity and postmodernism?

Question 78

Is the concept of universal human rights consistent with the concept of cultural relativism? Why or why not?

Question 79

How does the study of anthropology differ from sociology and psychology?

Question 80

An essentialist definition of religions sees religions as dealing with the realm of the sacred supernatural.What is mean by the terms sacred and supernatural?